COMANCHE, Texas (AP) — A pickup that failed to yield at a stop sign collided Friday with a Texas prison bus carrying more than two dozen inmates, pushing the bus onto its side, killing the truck's driver and injuring most of the prisoners, authorities said.
The bus was carrying 31 inmates and two guards when it collided with the pickup near Gustine, about 90 miles northwest of Waco, according to Robert Hurst, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The guards and 21 inmates were taken to hospitals, including five inmates who were transported by helicopter, Hurst said. The remaining 10 inmates were taken to a prison facility in Gatesville that has an infirmary and it wasn't immediately clear whether they suffered injuries as well, he said.
Authorities declined to specify the kinds of injuries the inmates sustained, but Hurst said none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.
"It was probably within two and half hours where we had everyone out of the bus and finally transported," Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Witt said.
The bus was en route from Abilene to various prison units in Huntsville, north of Houston. It was one of many transports TDCJ does of inmates from one prison to another, and Hurst said the inmates Friday were being taken to Huntsville for processing.
Witt said the pickup's driver did not yield at a stop sign. The driver — identified as Kalyn Rae Brymer, 24, of Thorndale — died at the scene.